FALL 2016 FOSSIL TRIPS
Powles Corners site
There was so much interest in this year’s fossil trip that we had to schedule two more additional
Saturdays for the overflow of interested people. The first homeschooling fossil trip on the 24th of
September went well with beautiful Autumn weather and over 30 people in attendance.
Saturdays for the overflow of interested people. The first homeschooling fossil trip on the 24th of
September went well with beautiful Autumn weather and over 30 people in attendance.
September 24th Fossil Trip
After an opening introduction at Pioneer Baptist Church in Norland Ontario we headed to the first site, a working limestone quarry but of course not working on Saturdays! After a safety lesson everyone headed over to the rocks with fossil identification sheet in hand to see what they could find.
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Safety lesson
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Opening introduction to fossils
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Trilobites bits were found almost immediately because I tipped them off that they were primarily located in blue rock. Crinoids stems were also found which is fairly rare in this Gull River Formation of rocks.
Trilobite tail found by one of the girls
Our enthusiastic collector Andrew has found the
best fossil so far |
Collecting in the Gull River Formation
An almost complete Bathyurus Trilobite. Way to go Andrew!
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People learned today that there were two types of fossil creatures, extinct ones as in the trilobite and living fossils as in the crinoid. Both are no help to the theory of evolution. A) Crinoids are still alive today and as Genesis 1 says they, “Produced after their own kind”. B) Trilobites are extinct. If evolution were true we should be gaining species not loosing them.
Collecting in the blast piles
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Some good finds came from the screening pile
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Folks were also fascinated when striking black rock. It gave off an oily smell. The existence of black oil shale indicates a quick and deep burial of plant and animal matter. If evolution’s slow burial were true, we would have no oil in the world and no fossils for that matter. Everything would have rotted away!
SITE 2
After a lunch break back at Pioneer Baptist, then we were on to site two, a long low road cut exposing the fossiliferous Verulam Formation. The group certainly was not disappointed here! Being somewhat trained now to spot fossils they were collecting them by the bag full. New this year was an on site fossil identification board with real fossils found at these sites. Again trilobites were found and very large crinoid stems.
After a lunch break back at Pioneer Baptist, then we were on to site two, a long low road cut exposing the fossiliferous Verulam Formation. The group certainly was not disappointed here! Being somewhat trained now to spot fossils they were collecting them by the bag full. New this year was an on site fossil identification board with real fossils found at these sites. Again trilobites were found and very large crinoid stems.
Site 2. A road cut at Powles Corners
Here's a happy camper finding a complete Ceraurus Trilobite!
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Amazing crinoid stem
Close up of Ceraurus Trilobite
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Another almost complete Ceraurus Trilobite
found by Miriam Legemaate |
A beautiful conulariid was found again by our very enthusiastic collector Andrew. The conulariids are extinct and thought to be a type of jellyfish.
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October 1st Fossil Trip
The October 1st fossil trip went well too with over 25 students and adults from Lindsay Christian School. The weather had rain foretasted but the Lord had a dry day planned. Some more great finds including a complete but partially obscured in the matrix Bathyurus trilobite. Also an excellent cephalopod found at site 2.
Back at the quarry again for an interpretative talk
Isaac is very happy because he found a complete trilobite!
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Showing off some of the fossils folks have already collected
Close up of complete (but partially obscured in the rock) Bathyurus Trilobite
Bathyurus Trilobite tail
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A slab of interesting fossil desiccation cracks found
Another student found more desiccation cracks
Gotta find that specimen!
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Explaining the presence of desiccation cracks
Desiccation cracks or "fossil mud cracks" are not necessarily evidence of a drying out period as in modern mud cracks. Desiccation cracks can form underwater by salt water flowing over mud or can form by compaction and dewatering of sediments. Therefore the sequence of rocks here could have been all laid down at once.
At the screening pile again
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Site 2
Identifying a specimen at site 2
Here is another cephalopod found on top of the rocks. It has been shaved down by glacier activity to reveal the internal chambers.
Road cut looking North
Another happy camper finding a plate of gastropods
(snail shells) 
The boys eager to identify their finds
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Rare here is the presence of cephalopods. This one here is a straight coned nautiloid similar to todays nautilus but with a straight shell.
Road cut looking South
Close up of gastropods (snail shells)
Good thing about fossil trips you can get your frustrations out on the rocks!
Well spotted by the boys are several crinoid discs
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In the conclusion at the end of the day people learned of the size of these rock beds (Simcoe Super Group)
they were digging in that they stretch across much of North America.
These beds and the rock layers worldwide fit nicely with the Noah’s flood account in the bible.
Sadly only 8 went through the door of the Ark and were saved. The group was reminded today (with a few amens)
that now Jesus claims he is the door and if anyone enters by Him, they will be saved. (John 10:9a). The
consequences of not going through either door was and will be catastrophic!
I must have been very thorough in my presentation because at the final Q and A time no one had a question!
they were digging in that they stretch across much of North America.
These beds and the rock layers worldwide fit nicely with the Noah’s flood account in the bible.
Sadly only 8 went through the door of the Ark and were saved. The group was reminded today (with a few amens)
that now Jesus claims he is the door and if anyone enters by Him, they will be saved. (John 10:9a). The
consequences of not going through either door was and will be catastrophic!
I must have been very thorough in my presentation because at the final Q and A time no one had a question!
Fossil Trip Supplementary
After a rain it pays off to return to a fossil site where a flurry of digging took place leaving clay coated slabs laying around. Here is a nice slab of crinoid stems found after the rain has washed it clean. By the way, I kept this crinoid stem (Archaeocrinus) to be removable. Pretty cool!
A small video sample of fossil trip activites